What Could Have Happened
by TheBestEver222
Summary: Edmund has a terrible nightmare, one he shan't soon forget. A nightmare about what could have happened.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story except for the plot! Enjoy!

It was nighttime at the castle of Cair Paravel and everyone was fast asleep, dreaming peacefully. Accept for a certain King.

King Edmund the Just, only crowned two weeks prior, was lying asleep in his bed, though this sleep wasn't nearly peaceful. Quite the opposite in fact, he was having a very fitful sleep, tossing and turning this way and that, muttering incomprehensible words.

Sweat was collecting on his forehead and in the creases of his neck, and he was thrashing around in his blankets.

The dream Edmund was having was one that seemed familiar, a bit too familiar.

 _Edmund was riding in the White Witch's sleigh, sitting right at her feet. He was frozen with fear. Fear for himself, but more importantly, fear for his family. His brother and sisters could die, all because of him._

 _'_ It's all my fault, _' he kept repeating again and again in his mind, '_ If I hadn't tried to meet with the White Witch, hadn't tried to sell out my siblings for sweets, none of this would have happened! _'_

 _Edmund felt as if he wanted to cry. He hoped that the Witch never found his siblings._

 _But he had no such luck._

 _"Oh, look Edmund! You're brother and sisters are here to join us!" The Witch spoke in a sickly sweet voice, a false friendly smile plastered on her face._

 _"No," Edmund whispered so quietly that it went unnoticed by the Witch. He didn't want to believe what she was saying, it couldn't be true. She couldn't have found his brother and sisters, she couldn't have. But she had._

 _"Edmund!" Said a usually joyous voice that now had a scared tone to it. He knew at once that it had to be Lucy. Young, innocent Lucy. How could he have ever wanted to hurt her?_

 _"Edmund?" Another sweet voice, though this one seemed more elegant, more graceful. Susan. Wonderfully smart, beautiful Susan! How had he ever been able to think of her as anything but that?_

 _"Edmund," this voice stood out from the others, and certainly not in a good way. This voice sounded so cold, so unforgiving, that Edmund flinched when he heard it say his name. Peter. Strong, kind-hearted Peter. Though now he seemed quite different._

 _As Edmund dared to peek over the side of the sleigh, he saw them standing there. Lucy was holding Susan's hand, both shaking slightly with fear but looking somewhat happily towards their once missing brother. Then there was Peter, standing tall and angry. His usually bright blue eyes were now cold and dark. He looked at Edmund with disdain. Edmund immediately sank back behind the cover of the sleigh, no longer wanting to see those blue eyes._

 _All of this took no more than twenty seconds and the Witch decided to speak, dropping the act she had been putting on earlier._

 _"At last, the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve have arrived in Narnia. And now it shall be I, Jadis, Queen of Narnia, who puts an end to you and all the hope that you have brought to the terrible beasts of Narnia," she raised her wand, aiming it first at young Lucy._

 _Edmund wanted to scream with all he had in him. He wanted to charge at the Witch before she could hurt his little sister. But he couldn't move._

 _"Edmund!" She screamed as the Witch turned her to stone, forever frozen with that horrible look of tremendous fear etched on her face._

 _Next, the White Witch pointed her wand at Susan._

 _"No!" Edmund thought, but he was still frozen._

 _"Help, Edmun-" but she was cut off before she could finish, her mouth frozen in a wide "o"._

 _Then, finally, the vile woman turned to Peter. Edmund finally seemed able to move once more._

 _"No!" He shouted as loud as he could._

 _"Oh? You do not wish me to turn your brother to stone?" The Witch asked._

 _"No," Edmund said once again, though much quieter._

 _"Then I shall do no such thing," the Witch said, lowering her wand._

 _Edmund couldn't believe it! He had lost his sisters, and he was terribly sad and almost felt like he would die, but he still had Peter._

 _"No! I would rather be turned to stone forever than have to be a brother to that traitor!" Peter argued._

 _That time Edmund was sure he had died. Peter would rather not be alive than be his brother? Edmund's eyes burned with tears. His own brother no longer wanted him._

 _"Calm down, Little King, you are not going to join Edmund," the Witch said._

 _Edmund didn't understand what she meant, but he soon found out._

 _She approached him, wand in hand. She handed the wand to him. All at once, Edmund understood._

 _"No! No, I won't do it!" He shouted, tears in his eyes. Even if Peter didn't want him, Edmund still couldn't bear the thought of him not living._

 _The Witch pulled him out of the sleigh and dragged him in front of his older brother. She raised his hand up, the one that held the wand, and pointed it at the other boy. Edmund struggled against the Witch's grip, but she held his arm in place. Just before he was turned into a statue, Peter spoke one last time._

 _"I hope you're happy with what you've done,_ Ed _," he sneered his childhood nickname. And then he was no longer a human being, but a statue of one._

"No, Peter! No! I'm so sorry! Please Peter. No." Edmund sat up in his bed, drenched in sweat and tears. It had only been a dream.

"But it seemed far too real," he muttered to himself. And for this reason, he decided to check on his siblings. Just to be sure.

First, Edmund made his way to Lucy's room, only to find that she was fast asleep, slightly drooling on her pillow. He couldn't help but smile. He was glad she was his little sister.

Next, Edmund found himself in Susan's room. Susan was lying on her back neatly tucked up in her blankets. She was always a neat girl. Edmund lingered for a second longer, just to assure himself that she was most definitely breathing, before he set off for his brother's room.

When he entered Peter's room, the first thing Edmund noticed was that Peter was not asleep. No, in fact he was sitting up in bed, having noticed the door being opened.

"Edmund?" Peter asked, somewhat surprised. Edmund immediately averted his eyes, worried that his brother's blue ones would have the same cold look in them as in the dream.

"Edmund, what are you doing in my room?" Peter asked.

"I'm sorry, is this your room? I thought it was mine. Sorry, must have gotten lost," Edmund said, keeping his eyes glued to the floor at his feet as he turned around to leave the room. But Peter knew his little brother better than that.

"Edmund, what's the matter?" He asked, slightly concerned about his brother's behavior.

Edmund stopped in the door frame.

"Nothing's the matter, Peter. I just got lost is all," he replied, once again trying to escape the room.

But Peter was up and across the room in three strides.

"What's going on with you Ed?" Peter asked once again, placing his hand on Edmund's shoulder. Edmund seemed to flinch when Peter mentioned his old nickname.

"It's nothing Peter," Edmund persisted, attempting to shake off Peter's hand.

Peter turned Edmund around to face him, and what he saw was shocking.

Edmund's face was tear-streaked and slightly sweaty. His hair stuck to his face in several spots and his eyes were red and puffy. Peter did the only thing he could think to do at that moment. He pulled his only brother into a hug.

"Oh, Ed, what could possibly be the matter?" Peter asked, his voice full of worry.

"I-I-I," Edmund couldn't form a sentence. Instead he hid his face in Peter's chest. He wanted to block out the world, if only for a few moments.

"Shh, Ed. It's okay," Peter comforted him as he led Edmund to his bed and sat him down on it. Peter sat beside him and immediately Edmund crawled into Peter's lap and wrapped his arms around his torso, completely forgetting that he was almost eleven and should be acting like a "grown up". Right now he just needed a hug from his brother.

Edmund was sobbing again and Peter was rubbing his back in an attempt to calm him down. It worked, if only slightly.

Edmund cried for a while, though neither brother was quite sure how long. Finally, Edmund's sobs turned to sniffles and his constant flow of tears began to slow. This was when Peter decided to speak.

"Now, tell me what happened," Peter said.

"I-I had a nightmare," Edmund mumbled quietly. He looked at his hands, worried that Peter might believe him to be a baby and push him away.

Peter was going to do just that, it was just a little bad dream, what could possibly be that bad about it? But Peter looked down at his younger brother and at the same time Edmund decided to glance up at Peter, and Peter saw real fear in Edmund's eyes, truly real fear. Why would his brother be so terribly afraid if it was just a nightmare? So Peter made a different decision.

"What was it about?" He asked in a soft voice.

Edmund felt so relived that his brother had not kicked him out and deemed his horribly real and vivid nightmare as nothing more than a bad dream. But that relief was short lived as he realized what Peter had just asked him. Edmund didn't think he could relive that nightmare, especially the end. But he would try.

"I-I was in the White Witch's sleigh, a-and she was looking for you and Susan and Lucy. I hoped that she wouldn't find you, th-that she wouldn't hurt you, but she did. Lucy was scared, h-her and Susan both were, but they were somewhat glad to see I was alive, I guess. Then there was you. Y-you look at m-me with utter disgust written all o-over your face. You hated me. I could tell. All of you said my name. Lucy was h-her usual self, although she was a bit scared. So was Susan. But you-"Edmund paused for a moment to take a deep breath, "y-you were s-so different. You glared at me and I-I knew that you hated me. A-and you had every right to. Then, the W-Witch, she turned Lucy into a statue, but before she was frozen, she screamed my name. She wanted me to help her, Peter! She needed me too! But all I did was stand there and stare!" Edmund looked at Peter, desperately wanting and needing comfort. But he knew that he didn't deserve any. He was a traitor, and it was all his fault.

But Peter hugged him close, whispering calming things in his ear and kissing him multiple times on the top of his head until he had recovered enough to finish the telling of his nightmare.

"Then she turned to Susan, raising her wand. Susan was terrified and sh-she looked right at me. She screamed too. She screamed for me to help her, but I couldn't move! I was frozen." Edmund took a deep breath and let it out before continuing, "And then she turned to you, and I, finally, was able to move. I-I told her not to turn you to stone, and she said she wouldn't. I was so happy. Confused, yes, but happy none the less. Until you spoke. Y-you said that you would rather be turned to stone then be my brother. I was sure I had died, but then the Witch turned to me. She gave me the wand. I understood then. She wanted me t-to kill you. She drug me out in front of where you stood, and forced me to point the wand at you. But before you were turned to stone you said, 'I hope you're happy with what you've done, Ed.' The way you said my name, as if it were poisonous, it made me wish it had been me that was turned to stone. At least statues can't feel."

Edmund hugged Peter tighter, "Do you hate me?"

Peter almost said, "Well I definitely don't like you!" He would have said it any other time, they were brothers after all, but the way Edmund had asked the question, full of so much sadness, told Peter that this was no time for joking.

"Of course not, Ed! How could I ever hate you?" Peter said, wrapping his arms around his brother.

"After all I've done to you and the girls, after all I've put you through, even before Narnia, how could you not?"

"Don't think like that Edmund. The girls and I could never hate you. You're our brother."

"You promise?" Edmund asked childishly.

"I promise." Peter promised, placing a quick kiss on Edmund's forehead. And for the first time that night, Edmund smiled.

"Now I think it's about time you went back to bed. It's nearly 3:00 in the morning," Peter stood up from the bed, offering Edmund a hand as well.

"Well, I was wondering, if I could, maybe, sleep with you tonight?" Edmund asked with a small smile.

Peter thought about saying no, as it was his room and he had a right to be in it by himself, but, though he was smiling, Peter could still see the raw fear shining in Edmund's eyes, fear because he wasn't sure if Peter would be there in the morning.

With a small sigh he said, "Oh, alright! But you must stay on your side of the bed!"

And so Edmund snuggled up under the covers on the right side of the bed, leaving plenty of room for Peter on the left. Peter chuckled lightly and crawled back into his own bed, getting comfortable under the covers.

He soon heard soft snores coming from his younger brother's side of the bed and knew instantly that Edmund was asleep.

As Peter lay awake, staring at the ceiling, he couldn't help but think over what Edmund had done in the past. Had he not been a traitor? Perhaps he still was. He had betrayed his whole family for nothing more than some Turkish delight. Maybe he ought to be considered a traitor.

But all those thoughts disappeared when, with a small yawn, the younger boy turned over and snuggled up to Peter's side, wrapping his scrawny arms around Peter's waist.

"Edmund, that's not your side," Peter said, but it was no use. As soon as he was settled Edmund began snoring softly once more. Peter smiled.

How could he think that his brother was a traitor. Maybe at one time he had been, but we all make mistakes. And Edmund had made up for it.

Peter cringed slightly at the memory of his little brother lying on the battlefield, bloodied and bruised, on the brink of death. Though he would surely be dead if Edmund hadn't stepped in.

Peter glanced back down at Edmund, lightly combing his finger through his ebony hair. He placed a kiss right on top of Edmund's head before placing an arm protectively around his little brother and drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

Author's Note: Hey all you awesome readers! How'd you like the story? It's my first one on this website and my first Narnia fanfiction. I hope it's alright! Tell me what you thought of it. Criticism is appreciated, no matter what kind it is. I hope you all enjoyed it. Bye!


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